Red Sox edge Tigers 1-0 In ALCS Game 3

Boston Red Sox's Mike Napoli hits a home run in the seventh inning during Game 3 of the American League baseball championship series against the Detroit Tigers Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, in Detroit.

DETROIT -

Once again this October, one run was enough.

The Boston Red Sox scored it — and now they lead an AL championship series that seemed to be slipping away last weekend.

John Lackey edged Justin Verlander in the latest duel of these pitching-rich playoffs, and Boston's bullpen shut down Detroit's big boppers with the game on the line to lift the Red Sox over the Tigers 1-0 Tuesday for a 2-1 advantage in the ALCS.

Mike Napoli homered off Verlander in the seventh inning, and Detroit's best chance to rally fell short in the eighth when Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder struck out with runners at the corners.

"This game had the feel it was going to be won or lost on one pitch," Boston reliever Craig Breslow said. "Lackey kept us in the game. Every inning where he was able to throw up a zero gave us a lift."

Despite three straight gems by their starters, the Tigers suddenly trail in a best-of-seven series they initially appeared to control. Game 4 is Wednesday night at Comerica Park, with Jake Peavy scheduled to start for the Red Sox against Doug Fister.

Peavy set the tone Tuesday during a pregame news conference, when he sounded miffed that so much of the attention was focused on Verlander before Game 3.

"It's been funny for me to watch all the coverage of the game coming in," Peavy said. "Almost like we didn't have a starter going today. Our starter is pretty good, too."

Lackey backed that up and then some.

He allowed four hits in 6 2-3 innings, striking out eight without a walk in a game that was delayed 17 minutes in the second inning because lights on the stadium towers went out.

"I think that little time off gave him a chance to slow down a little bit. He was excited and pumped that first inning," Boston catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia said. "Kind of getting excited with his slider, throwing a little too hard and leaving it over the middle, but he was still pretty effective."

It was the second 1-0 game in this matchup between the highest-scoring teams in the majors. Dominant pitching has been a running theme throughout these playoffs, which have included four 1-0 scores and seven shutouts in the first 26 games.

"The runs are pretty stingy," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "This is what it's about in postseason, is good pitching."

After rallying from a five-run deficit to even the series in Game 2, Boston came away with a win in Detroit against one of the game's best pitchers. The Tigers had a chance for their own comeback in the eighth when Austin Jackson drew a one-out walk and Torii Hunter followed with a single.

But Cabrera, who failed to reach base for the first time in 32 postseason games for the Tigers, never looked comfortable against Junichi Tazawa, swinging and missing at the first two offerings and eventually chasing an outside pitch for strike three.

"To me, I (got) myself out. I was swinging at a lot of balls out of the strike zone," said Cabrera, who has been banged up for a couple of months but homered in Game 2. "When you swing at balls, you're not able to have success."

Fielder looked even more overmatched against Koji Uehara, striking out on three pitches.

Uehara also worked the ninth for a save, ensuring that Lackey's fine performance wouldn't go to waste.

Lackey pitched poorly his first two seasons in Boston after signing an $82.5 million, five-year contract in December 2009. Then he missed all of 2012 following elbow ligament-replacement surgery.

He's been better this season, and he kept the defending AL champions off balance Tuesday by effectively changing speeds.

"He just never gave in," Saltalamacchia said.

Napoli's first at-bat in the majors was against Verlander on May 4, 2006, at Comerica Park. He homered then, too.

"He's tough. He was on his game tonight. He was keeping all of us off balance," said Napoli, who rubbed his bat on teammate Jonny Gomes' beard before going up to the plate. "I got to a 3-2 count and put a good swing on a pitch, was able to drive it."

In the last two games, the Tigers have started Verlander and 21-game winner Max Scherzer — and the Red Sox won both.

Throw in Anibal Sanchez's outstanding effort in the opener, when the Red Sox managed only a ninth-inning single in a 1-0 loss, and Detroit's three starters in the ALCS have combined to allow two runs and six hits with 35 strikeouts in 21 innings.

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